Utah According to My Phone

We packed in a lot during our week in Utah. We spent time with family and friends on the lake, we went on hikes and walks, we enjoyed an outdoor concert, and we soaked up down time around the cabin.

I have just a few more things captured by my phone that I don't want to forget.

When we started our road trip there, we picked up Blake and Nash from their Jr. Lifeguard camp at the beach with our fully packed vehicle and immediately hit the road, sandy swimsuits and all. We had planned to only drive half way to Park City since we got a late start, but when the boys kept dozing off, we decided to just keep going. We didn't arrive until around 2am, but sometimes it's nicer to not have to deal with a hotel. 

We always love to see the "roller coaster landmark" near Vegas.

And of course, stunning sunsets from the road.

We met up with good friends from our old neighborhood for dinner one evening, and then paid a surprise visit to another one of our favorite families. Those now grown-up kids used to entertain my wiggly boys every Sunday at church.

We took a break from the lake one day to bring our boys to BYU. They had never really been on a college campus, and it was fun to show them our old stomping grounds.

We showed them the library where Troy used to study for hours and I worked on family history when we were first married. They weren't all that interested in our old study corners, but they were fascinated by the moveable shelves.

We took them through the engineering and business buildings, and ended at the music building. We found some practice pianos for Blake and Nash to play.

We had lots of good discussions on how hard it is to get accepted into a good school. The boys asked question after question and we were happy to get the wheels turning about college.

Another day, we hit up the local small town bowling alley that hasn't changed a bit since the 1960s. The boys were pretty excited when they spotted a ball with my name on it.

The drive home is always dreaded, but we broke up our drive with a few days in Vegas.

NYE in Vegas

We broke up our drive home after Christmas by stopping to see our good friends in Vegas. They heated their pool for their family to enjoy over break and even though it was dark, misty and cold outside, the kids jumped in with no hesitation. No one was mad about trading snow pants for swimsuits.

The next day was New Year's Eve and everyone was back in the pool first thing in the morning. 

Bella was nice to lend her old floaties to the boys.

These separated friends can never get enough of each other.

Nash relaxed as usual.

Crew and Bella had no idea they were about to get annihilated by their older brothers.

We considered staying in Vegas for the ball drop but I was sicker than a dog at that point. Weeks of December stress, lack of sleep, travel and being in the cold finally caught up with me and nothing sounded better than my own bed. We completed our drive back to California, put the boys to bed early and rang in the new by sitting on the couch in sweats, surrounded by piles of tissues. It was an anti-climatic way to end 2016. But I love the fresh start of a new year. I couldn't wait to hunker down and de-Christmas, purge and organize. Of course, not before spending a few days in bed recuperating from another whirlwind holiday season.

Palazzo

We had a travel credit to use up before the end of 2016, so we decided to apply it towards a night at a "fancy" hotel. We stopped at The Palazzo in Las Vegas on our way to Utah for Christmas. The boys had never experienced that kind of luxury before and they were so excited about everything from the grand lobby to the elevators to the winding hallways.

We rolled into the hotel somewhere around 10pm and everyone was too excited to settle down and go to bed. The boys ran back and forth and back and forth once we got to our room. They rotated between jumping on the beds and perching at the windowsill. They loved looking at the all the lights down below. The crib for Finn wasn't delivered until after midnight and then sometime around 1am Nash lost a tooth. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep. But it was a night the boys won't forget. 

The view in the morning was just as fascinating. The boys were glued to the window. 

We started out the day by walking through the atrium connecting The Palazzo and The Venetian. We grabbed cinnamon rolls and watched hundreds of visitors take pictures next to the LOVE letters.

We weren't in a rush to get on the road and we debated about going to Bellagio to see the holiday display. But the boys looked longingly at the pool outside our window and we decided to let them swim off some energy instead. We figured we better take advantage of such a great amenity while we had the opportunity.

The temperature outside was in the 50s that morning but the pool felt like a hot tub. There was steam coming off the water and the boys dove right in.

We were the only ones in sight.

Finn was acting so animated, he was cracking us up.

How many more sleeps until Christmas?

It was so liberating to have a break from riding in the car. As an added bonus, we had lunch at Grimaldi's Pizza with some of our best friends that live near Vegas before clocking six more hours on the road. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve Eve.